Colorado Rockies right fielder Jordan Patterson (72) hits a fly to center field for a home run in the first inning off of Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Kenta Maeda (18) at Camelback Ranch on February 27, 2017 in Glendale, Arizona.

Ahead of Tuesday night’s deadline to set its 40-man roster, the Rockies made a flurry of moves to protect four top prospects.

Right-handed pitchers Ryan Castellani and Justin Lawrence as well as infielder Josh Fuentes and outfielder Sam Hilliard were put on the 40-man roster. First baseman/outfielder Jordan Patterson was designated for assignment.

Adding Castellani, Lawrence, Fuentes and Lawrence to the 40-man protects those prospects from the Rule 5 Draft next month, which allows clubs with open roster space to select certain players not on the 40-man roster of other organizations.

For a player to be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft, he has to have signed at 18 years of age or younger and played five seasons of professional ball, or signed at 19 or older and played four seasons of pro ball. The Rockies currently have 59 players eligible for the draft.

The selections of Castellani, Lawrence, Fuentes and Hilliard come as no surprise, as all four represented the Rockies in the Arizona Fall League and are held in high regard by farm director Zach Wilson.

Patterson, meanwhile, never quite found his footing after being selected in the fourth round of the 2013 draft out of South Alabama. He hit .271 with 26 home runs in 118 games for Triple-A Albuquerque in 2018, and had 18 at-bats with the Rockies in his career.

Kyle Newman is a sports writer for The Denver Post who covers the Colorado Rockies and other pro, college and high school athletics. Prior to that, he was executive editor of the Colorado Sports Network and The Fan Varsity Sports Network. He is a 2012 graduate of the ASU Cronkite School.